Newz Hook to bring news from Rio Paralympics for the deaf and visually impaired

Picture credits: ThinkStock When 4,500 sportsmen with disabilities from 176 countries will compete in the Rio Paralympics, which kicks off in the first week of September, the deaf and blind in India will be able to follow the action for the first time.

An app called Newz Hook designed by BarrierBreaks, a Mumbai-based for-profit social enterprise, is planning to feature athletes contesting in the 12-day long event. Newz Hook is the first ever mobile news application designed to provide easy access to news for the deaf and the blind. From current affairs to business, from science to sports, this app covers news across topics.

The only difference is that the articles in Newz Hook are accompanied by a 'sign language' video in which a reporter interprets the news for the deaf in the Indian Sign Language (ISL). For the visually impaired, the application supports the use of 'screen readers'. Screen readers are software applications used by the blind to operate smartphone and computers.

Screen readers read out loud the text displayed on the mobile phone enabling the blind to hear the news. The application also enables the user to have a high contrast view and increase the size of the text. This permits senior citizens and people with a partial visual impairment to read the news. However, the most striking feature of the application is the use of 'simple understandable language' while generating news content.

"While studying the news consumption pattern of the deaf, we found that most of them quit reading the article citing the use of complex words which they could not understand," said Shilpi Kapoor, founder, BarrierBreaks. For instance, a complex word like 'infrastructure' has to be simplified as 'roads and bridges' for the disabled to understand the word better. Newz Hook’s editorial and production team is run by just six people. Of the six, three are dedicated reporters who interpret the news in sign language.

"The sign language reporters form the core of the team," said Shai Venkatraman, content editor, News Hook, adding that the rest take care of curating the news content. Newz Hook plans to add more features. "One of the basic and essential features we are trying to build now is a sign language dictionary. The understanding of terminology in the news report is important," said Kapoor.

This allows the user to refer to a dictionary if he/she is unsure of any word. Newz Hook also plans to get into the financial literacy space. "A lot of people with vision and hearing impairment hesitate to go to banks. They do not know the schemes. They do not understand the words used. We will try to address these basic needs," said Shai.

While the plan of action for the next few months is to increase outreach within India, Kapoor said they are looking to expand their market by introducing the app in developed nations. "We need to start looking at them [differently abled] as customers. Only then we can see inclusion happening," said Kapoor, adding that the Indian accessibility market alone is valued at Rs 4,200 crore.